Sri Lanka's Electricity Amendment Bill 2025: Trojan Horse for national economic collapse

Political betrayal masquerading as reform - the end of sovereignty

- By Hiran Daluwatta

SRI Lanka's fragile recovery from the devastating 2022 sovereign debt crisis now faces an unprecedented and existential threat.

The newly proposed Electricity Amendment Bill 2025, under the guise of modernising and reforming the power sector, is in reality a carefully disguised Trojan Horse designed to dismantle independent oversight, legalise corruption, suffocate private investment, entrench fossil fuel dependence, and burden future generations with an unsustainable debt bomb.

This legislation is not merely a policy miscalculation; it is a politically driven assault on fiscal discipline, institutional integrity, and environmental responsibility. If enacted without significant reform, this Bill will not just destabilise Sri Lanka's energy sector-it will effectively sign the death warrant of Sri Lanka's economic sovereignty.

1. Assassination of independent oversight - crushing accountability to cement ministerial control

At the heart of this Bill is the abolition of the National Electricity Advisory Council (NEAC) Sri Lanka's only multidisciplinary, independent body tasked with overseeing electricity sector reforms and safeguarding public interest (Section 3). The Bill replaces NEAC with a committee directly appointed and controlled by the Minister of Power (Section 8), stripping away constitutional protections that ensured NEAC's autonomy and multidisciplinary expertise.

Why this matters?

Independent oversight bodies worldwide have proven essential to transparency, market confidence, and reducing political interference. According to the World Bank (2025), countries abolishing similar councils experienced a devastating 37% reduction in renewable energy project approvals between 2015 and 2022, severely crippling climate action efforts. India's insulated regulatory model, which empowers independent commissions, has yielded tariff reductions of 22% and improved service quality (World Bank, 2025).